phonescoop.com

Re: Sprint Toshiba Phones

Although Sprint has it branded as Toshiba, it's an Audiovox phone. You can find it by simply searching for "VM 4050" using the JUMP search at the top of any page, or under Carriers > Sprint, or under Phones > Audiovox.

It's a complex situation. Toshiba is technically the manufacturer, but they don't maintain a presence in the U.S. for their phone business. Audiovox handles sales, marketing, and distribution for Toshiba phones in the U.S. Audiovox does the same for other companies like Curitel, Pantech, and Sharp. Toshiba does own 25% of Audiovox Communications, however.

In the case of Sprint, I believe they like Audiovox, but not the Audiovox brand. So Sprint requests that Audiovox phones be Toshiba- or Sprint-branded. Audiovox is happy to work that way - their focus is catering to the carriers, not making a name for themselves like Nokia and the big boys.